An attorney representing the engineer driving Amtrak #188 has said his client does not recall the derailment or anything leading up to it.
Engineer Brandon Bostian’sattorney Robert Goggin III told ABC’s NightlineBostian recalls nothing about the crash.
“He remembers driving the train. He remembers going through that area generally, has absolutely no recollection of the incident or anything unusual.The next thing he recalls is being thrown around, coming to, finding his bag, getting his cellphone and dialing 911,” Goggin told ABC. READ MORE: Five of the seven passengers killed in the tragic Amtrak crash have been identified National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)member Robert Sumwalt said Wednesday night that Amtrak #188 was traveling at 106 mph when it approached a curved portion of tracks on the border of Port Richmond that had a 50 mph speed limit. Sumwalt said the NTSB’s investigation found that the engineer applied the emergency brake, the train slowed to 102 mph, and the train’s black box recorder then cut out.
Goggin also said Bostian, 32, of Queenswas interviewed by Philadelphia police for more than six hours about the crash.
Goggin told Nightline Bostian is “distraught,”and suffered a concussion, leg injuries and a head wound requiring 14 staples in the crash.
According to Goggin, Bostian was not on medication or intoxicated and had no medical conditions prior to the crash.
Mayor Michael Nutter laid blame for the crash on Bostian in an interview with CNN. “Clearly it was reckless in terms of the driving by the engineer. There’s no way in the world he should have been going that fast into the curve,” Nutter told CNN.”I don’t know what was going on with him (the engineer). I don’t know what was going on in the cab, but there’s really no excuse that can be offered, literally, unless he had a heart attack.” However, NTSB has not officially concluded what caused the derailment of the train carrying 243 passengers.
NTSB has not yet interviewed Bostian, Sumwalt told MSNBC, and they are waiting for him to recover from the crash before interviewing him.
Seven fatalitieshave been reported so far, and more than 200 people were sent to Philly hospitals for treatment. At a press conference Thursday morning, out of 23 people hospitalized at Temple University Hospital, 16 patients remain, eight of whom are in critical condition, chief medical officer Dr. Herbert Cushing said. According to his LinkedIn account, Bostian graduated fromthe University of Missouri-Columbia, College of Business in 2006 with a B.S. in business administration and management.
Bostianworked as a cashier at Target for a year before joining Amtrak as a conductor from 2006 to 2010. Conductors move through the train and take tickets from passengers.
According to his LinkedIn he became an Amtrak engineer in 2010. Engineers operate the train as it travels.
Bostian was quoted in a 2012Midtown Gazettearticle discussing his efforts supporting gay marriage,GotNews.com revealed. TheGazette quoted Bostian’s thoughts on lobbying for a gay marriage bill in New York:
“It’s kind of insulting to have to beg people for my right to marry … I feel like we shouldn’t even have to have this fight.”
On Facebook, Bostianchanged his profile picture to a black square at 1:39 a.m. Wednesday, four hours afterthe derailment. Friends posted comments of encouragement under his new profile picture.
“Hold your head up,” one wrote. “What you know about yourself and those of us that know you is more important than anything being said in the media. Everyday we hold lives in our hands – 99.9% of the time it goes unappreciated and taken for granted. Yes, it happened to you but it could have been any one of us and you are not alone.” “Just wanted to say that we are all thinking about you, and you have our full support,” another wrote. “Your Amtrak family is here for you Brother.”
Who is Amtrak driver Brandon Bostian?
Provided/Metro file photo
